Rapid Fire
by MistyMew
Summary: By accident, a ponyta is born into the real world to a racehorse mother, and despite much uncertainty, she is forced to become a racehorse. Little does she know, her racing will change the lives of millions, and may even ultimately lead her home....


Disclaimer: If I owned pokémon, then you would be seeing a lot of my wacko plots on the big screen by now. Does that explain anything? Oh yeah, and BTW, I don't own this world either. 

Author's Notes: This fanfic…ummm…let's just put it this way, I guarantee you've never read anything like it. It's a fanfic of courage, hope, and uniqueness. I think you'll like it if you stick to it, and give it a chance. 

_Dedication: This is dedicated to Salty, who was a great horse and an even better friend. We had to euthanize [sp?] him because of a bad case of painful colic. He made more kids happy than I have ever seen anyone accomplish in their lifetime, human or animal. You will be truly missed by many, Salty._

Salty

1968-2001

Rapid Fire

Prologue: The Mistake

The resounding thunder of hooves hammering against hard clay echoed stridently in the constricted canyon, concealing the trounced murmurs from a pair of desiccated throats for precious breath. 

Blurs of racing fire lollopped up ahead of the lumbering tyranitar, whose view of his intended prey was screened by gritty billows of ruddy dust rising from ahead. He peered irritated into the flying sand, finally aggravated enough to resort to more serious measures than merely hulking sluggishly along and waiting for the young one to fall. Lowering a broad upper body to the ground, he started at a slightly more rapid canter, which also boomed sinisterly against the chasm walls. 

Seldom was he frustrated enough to run on all fours, for it only elevated his pace a trivial amount, but he was desperate, angry, and most of all, hungry, so even a tiny boost was worth it. Plus, he knew, the young one couldn't keep up at this pace for much longer.

Unfortunately, he was right.

The smaller of the two fiery smudges faltered considerably, and an agonized squeal escaped her mouth as she fell back behind her lanky mother. She struggled in vain to control her lengthy youthful legs, which had been slightly anesthetized by the brutal brunt of diamond hard hooves against solid clay, but tears of hindrance began to wing out from her large chocolate eyes, flinging out into the dust to dissolve within seconds. She tossed her hooves out in front of her as far as she could, but her bolting stride was cut short as her left back hoof caught on a gnarled tree root protruding the russet dirt. She let loose a throat-tearing shriek of anguish to her mother, who was pounding straight ahead and swiftly fading from her view, but the fleet rapidash didn't do so much as flick an ear at her daughter's pain.

The little ponyta lay crumpled in the dirt, her legs folded neatly beneath her perspiring body and eyes glassy with pain, waiting for an inevitable but untimely death. She could feel the vibrations of the tyranitar's footsteps in the firm ground beneath her, but she hardly had the strength to hold her head up, much less run. A massive shadow overthrew her clammy beige body, and she knew her fate had arrived. 

Yet, as doomed as she seemed, her body had one last defense mechanism left. A final burst of adrenaline surged through her veins, and just as a sandpapery hand reached out to crush her fragile bones, she had the potency to pull herself up and dart off, one hind leg trailing uselessly behind her. She hobbled away the best she could, in any which way that lead her away from the great beast that wanted her blood, for her sense of direction was feverishly off. The tyranitar was so close she could almost feel his breath on her flaming back and when he swiped at her, she yelped and jumped into the air while trying to grit her teeth against the pain of her shattered leg. 

It is very unfortunate for both of them that she was so blindly running. 

She was just on the verge of terrible collapse again when she splayed her legs out in front of her, attempting feebly to leap out of the path of the tyranitar, but when she felt nothing but air below her feet, she panicked. She thrashed violently about in the air as she fell, her heart plunking horrendously in her broad chest. She could feel blood seeping leisurely down her crushed back leg as it wobbled agonizingly behind her, and her front legs throbbed from so much callous pounding. But soon she was insensate to her own excruciating suffering. 

With a brutal clap her body slapped onto the heavily still surface of the lake, and a loud hissing filled the arid wind as the blaze lining her spine sputtered and sizzled in the chill waters. She frenziedly pitched her hooves about in the thick, suffocating water, churning it turbulently into a sultry froth. Dimly through one hysterically rolling russet eye she could see the crystalline waters cloud with diluted scarlet. Her fractured bone was sticking out of her leg at a gross angle, but her senses…her feelings…they were fading…. She stopped her distressed struggling and floated serenely in the rose-tinted water, feeling nothing…nothing…but buoyant peace…. Her eyelids fluttered absently as she lay motionless, her world becoming tangled with shadows, gloomy, passive, deadening shadows…. And she was finally at peace with her pain, for it was gone now…. She was happy…at least, for now….

The tyranitar glanced around weakly, beady, unclear little eyes hardening. Then he saw the fawn-colored blur hovering in the calm azure of his territory's lagoon and her knew that the chase was over. Due to his considerable weight and weakness to water he would be unable to retrieve his unusual kill from the tranquil water. He grunted roughly in aggravation, banging his fist on the ground to indicate his anger, and then turned to trudge away from his frustration. 

The small corpse, stagnant in the reddening lagoon, was forgotten by all…

And discovered by two. 

The two pearly figures drifted above the mangled, fireless and lifeless body, whispering under their breath. 

"Poor thing…." The first one intoned forlornly, bowing its head in respect and woe. 

"Nobody's even mourning over it, and it died so young…." The second (and smaller) one crooned, wise beyond its few years. "Nothing deserves to die like _that_!" 

The two youthful creatures curved to look into each other's identical cobalt eyes, then smiled. 

"Myuu never said we couldn't do something nice for someone with our powers." The second one beamed, its eyes glittering mischievously.

"Yeah, she just said not to get ourselves in trouble! I don't think she'd get mad if we gave this little ponyta a second chance…."

"Let's do it!" They both exclaimed, their long tails intertwining in a strange form of determined handshake. 

The smaller of the two whitish figures scowled at the body, flinching as its gaze reached the distorted hind leg of the deceased ponyta.

"Eeewww, I don't want to touch it, you do it, Gleamer!" It squealed squeamishly at its companion, eyes flooding with an anxious, almost frightened look.

'Gleamer' scrunched up his face, but remained resolute. "Okaaay, but you have to help me with the mental part of it, I don't think I can send it myself, Shimmer."

'Shimmer' smirked. "Of course I'm gonna help with that!"

"Okay, here it goes!" Gleamer reached out his tail, delicately poking the end of the drowned ponyta's muzzle with the pod-like tip of his tail.

Shimmer solemnly reached out and grabbed Gleamer's diminutive three-fingered paw with her own, even tinier one and grasped fiercely as she gulped in a fleeting breath, then detained it. Gleamer did the same. 

Out of the blue a supple, wintry breeze broke loose, twisting and swirling around the two stiff creatures, whose eyes were closed forcefully in concentration. 

But a drained squeak blasted through the mild howling of the winds just as they were beginning to feel the strong, underlying suction, flouting Gleamer's concentration. 

"Gleamer, I c-can't hang on any longer!" Shimmer's eyes were fluttering uncontrollably open, and when all her strength snapped, her eyes snapped open with it. The necessary winds calmed, and the suction was gone. 

So was the ponyta's body.

The two young psychic pokémon's eyes widened apprehensively. There was a strained silence.

Then Shimmer piped up shakily. 

"G-gleamer…I-I think I just sent that ponyta to the wrong world…."

Gleamer was taken aback. His eyes expanded even farther, and he opened his mouth a few times unsuccessfully, finally uttering, "L-let's get outta here Shimmer!" 

As the two streaked off into the sky, Gleamer looked to his smaller companion. 

"If Myuu, or anyone else for that matter, asks, nothing happened, okay?" 

Shimmer nodded, looking off at the rapidly disappearing blue speckle that was the lake. She swallowed fretfully, thinking miserably, 'What have I done…?'

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Notes: That's just the short intro, the next chapter will be longer. Where could the ponyta have gone? What will her appearance cause? All on the next chapter of Rapid Fire! LOL, I sound like some sort of demented narrator. Please keep reading, and be a pal and review, okay? I need a lot of encouragement to keep this going, simply because it's so off the norm. 


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